Dream Machine

Finally did it!!! About a year ago, my company did a mid-year cash profit sharing, and I was thinking I'd use it to buy some sort of convertible. At the top of my list was the sexy and brand appropriate Saturn Sky. I have been off and on scanning the ads for various convertibles, but hadn't gotten farther than just looking.

Then this came up for sale. Sounded good, and the price is right in the fair range. I've seen them down to the $5,000 range, but those are usually pretty beat, and up to and over $10,000 for nicer examples, but even those often will have up to 100,000 miles.

Of course, one of my main criteria was an automatic transmission, so that eliminates quite a few of them, being a sports car, several came with manuals. Another thing I would like if I could find one at a decent price would be the Redline model, which has a smaller engine, but has an intercooled turbocharger.

This one came in right in the middle of the price range, with 80,000 miles, the right transmission, and the preferred engine!!! The interior and top are in good shape, and it's got a great color. A previous owner had added coilovers, which have it set dropped pretty low, but they ride real nice, and I can jack the height back up from where it is. Where it's at is too low for a car that was pretty low to begin with, and where it is, it wants to scrape everywhere in the neighborhood!!! It has a carbon fiber look wrap on the hood that I'm not crazy about, but shouldn't be too bad to remove. There was even carbon fiber look wrap over the emblem between the seats!!! I was able to remove it with no difficulty at all. The chrome grille bar has been painted black, and I don't like that at all. Hopefully that paint and the wrap aren't hiding damage, and both can be fairly easily removed. The side and back windows are heavily tinted. I don't mind it too much, but it makes night driving with the windows up a bit difficult, so I'll be removing that, maybe I'll put a very light tint on them. Possibly more difficult, a lot of the lights have been “upgraded”. The front turn signal and running lights had been changed out to LED ones, and... they don't work at all. I picked up replacement conventional bulbs and put them in, but only the one sides' running light is working, neither of the turn signals in the front are working yet. The headlights have been changed to LED bulbs, too, and the low beams seem fine (they have a heat sink with a fan on the back of them!!!) but the high beams are weird colors, I think the drivers' side is green, and the passengers' changes colors from blue to red, which I'm sure is illegal. The driving lights have been “upgraded” to what I think are xenon bulbs that have some sort of control box wired in before them. One is burned out, or I probably wouldn't mess with them, but I'll probably see if they, as well as the high beam bulbs, can be switched back to factory units. The rims I'm pretty sure are larger than stock, with skinny tires. I don't hate them, but when tire time comes, I'll probably see if I can get some with a bit more sidewall. The rims have a yellow stripe on the edge, which I like the look of, but which look like they need repainted. Oh, and the muffler is completely absent. It doesn't sound terrible with straight pipes, but I think I'm going to get something there, I don't know if it'll be a full system, or just a couple of glass packs or what, but I'm already seeing dollar signs. Ah well.

It had black and yellow vanity plates when I got it, which of course had to be returned to the DMV, but the color went well with the car. I asked the previous owner what it meant (I can't remember exactly what it was) and he told me it was Vietnamese for “happy”, which goes with it, too!!! The plates I got have the same last digits as the ones on Scruffy!!!

I haven't driven it a whole lot, but it's a great drive!!! Gets right with the program, it does!!! I got on one of the dead-stop entrances to the northern portion of the 110, and that's the car you want for that sort of thing!!! It got a little loose on the turn, but the traction control took care of that in short order!!! I've got my in-office days coming up, so I'll get a few days of driving it into work. Something to look forward to!!!

Legen - Wait for It - Dary!!!

A while ago they released daily incense in Pokemon GO. Every day, you get an incense that lasts for 15 minutes, and is most effective while you're walking, and it gives you a summary of what you've caught with it at the end. Most of the Pokemon that spawn are rather pedestrian, but they have introduced the Galarian forms of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres!!!

These will sometimes appear while using your daily incense. While I've been using the daily incense, I've had probably a dozen or more encounters with these legendary birds, but hadn't caught a one, as they have a near 100% flee rate. My son, however, has gone months without a single sighting!!!

Another even more recent introduction is Master Balls, that have a guaranteed catch, and as it turns out, a rather intricate animation when you use it. Towards the beginning of this month, after I had attained one of these Master Balls, I get a Galarian Moltres while using my daily incense, and used it to catch it. Predictably, it has a most unimpressive rating, but finally got one!!!

A week ago, on my new weekday day off (I'm back on a weekend shift!!!) we're having Birthday get together at my mom's house for my sister and I. After we've eaten and had lush (a few years ago my wife found a recipe of lush, which everyone agrees is better than cake) my younger boy and I decide to go on a walk at the park by the house. As we go, naturally we've got our daily incense going. As we go along, my son has his first Legendary bird encounter, Articuno!!! He's heard a method, where you throw 20 ultra balls, and it'll increase your odds of getting a successful catch. I've tried a few times, and it hasn't helped. He tries, and the first one he throws after the 20 (along with a golden razz) it breaks out, and flees. As expected. He's not especially disappointed, the one he wanted is Zapdos. We proceed on. A couple minutes later, he gets another Articuno!!! We've never heard of two on a single incense, this seems like a glitch, but he tries the 20 baller again, with the same results. A minute later, he gets a third Articuno!!! Certainly unprecedented at this point!!! Again, it flees.

A few minutes later, the unbelievable occurs, he gets his fourth legendary, this time the coveted Zapdos!!! No escape this time, he uses his Master Ball, and he's got his Galarian Zapdos!!!

My son has named several of his favorite 'mons after foods. Naturally, he's named his Zapdos Orange Chicken, because it really looks like one!!! In honor of his Zapdos, we got Panda Express the next day!!!